The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) implemented the recommendations of the Justice RM Lodha Committee in 2018 – three years after the Supreme Court-appointed panel submitted its report – by adopting a new constitution and holding elections in 2019, resulting in Sourav Ganguly and Jay Shah taking over as Chairman and Secretary respectively.
Two editions of the Indian Premier League (IPL) have been held since then and the third one began at the Wankhede Stadium here on Saturday.
The recommendations of the Lodha Committee have brought about some changes in the IPL, such as in the ownership pattern of certain franchises, introduction of conflict of interest clause, age restrictions on administrators, adherence to the one-man-one-post rule, ensuring The difference between the end of IPL and the start of international engagements for Indian players.
The committee had also recommended an autonomous structure for the IPL Governing Council, although this has not been fully implemented as the IPL’s “navel” relationship with the parent body is still “very strong” and the BCCI top officials decided are part of the process of taking.
There has been a major change in the ownership structure of franchises, especially those that have close ties with the BCCI or state association office-bearers. Like in the case of Chennai Super Kings, formerly owned by India Cements, whose managing director N. Srinivasan handled many administrative tasks in the BCCI while handling the IPL team.
The Lodha Committee suspended the CSK and Jaipur franchises for two years for their owner’s alleged involvement in illegal betting and, under pressure to raise questions, India Cements transferred the ownership of the franchise to Chennai Super Kings Cricket Limited, which is based in Chennai. is registered in. The new entity is still owned by Indian Cements and thus indirectly still under the control of Srinivasan and his family.
Although Srinivasan cannot be an office-bearer of the BCCI till the upper age limit of 70 years for administrators is implemented, the issue of conflict of interest will haunt the BCCI if any member of his family becomes an office-bearer of the BCCI.
The ownership pattern of the Jaipur franchise, which allegedly had close links with former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, underwent some changes following the Lodhi Committee recommendations and the IPL betting scandal.
Another major change was the introduction of conflict of interest rules for an organization with power handed down by inheritance and no upper age limit for administrators.
Now the age restriction of 70 years has been imposed for administrators while issues related to conflicts of interest are being closely monitored. This is still a big hassle for administrators and former cricketers, and it ensures that people associated with the national team are not a part of the IPL as well as commentators.
This has resulted in people like Ravi Shastri resenting the rule as he was not allowed to work as a commentator with the official broadcaster during his stint as coach of the national men’s team.
Shastri, who is no longer a coach with the Nationals, recently termed it as a “conflict of interest clause that exists in some stupid constitution that binds us”.
Whereas the recommendations of the Lodha Committee brought many changes in the IPL. One of the reasons for the formation of the committee was to bring transparency in its functioning, though this remains a distant dream as the process is still as opaque as it was earlier.
Get all the latest updates cricket news, cricket pictures, cricket videos, IPL 2022 Live Updates And cricket score Here